Threats of violence against a gay faculty member prompts letter to administration

DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com

More than 220 Texas Christian University faculty members, prompted by threats of violence against a faculty member teaching an LGBTQ class, have signed a letter in support of the school’s LGBTQ community and LGBTQ studies program.

The course in question had been vetted and approved by the TCU faculty, passing through three curriculum committees to become part of TCU’s curriculum, according to the letter. But as right-wing media outlets circulated click-bait stories about the queer studies class, the threats started coming in and quickly became more serious — so serious that at one point, TCU police called the professor and told him to leave campus.

U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, a Republican serving Tarrant and Johnson Counties and a TCU trustee, said he would use his position to fight “woke culture” at the university. His comments followed weeks of bigoted emails and threatening phone calls to the faculty member.

The response by the Texas Republican Party was a fundraising email and text.

Concerned faculty asked the university to release a statement of values about the inclusion of LGBTQ students, faculty and staff and the role of LGBTQ studies in the school’s curriculum.

According to the letter, “TCU leadership, including the provost, has refused to make such a statement or has failed to respond to repeated requests for such a statement.” The letter says the school’s leadership is claiming silence, in the current political environment, “is the most appropriate strategy.”

Faculty who have signed the letter disagree, noting TCU’s own survey of students finds “LGBTQ students express lower feelings of belonging at TCU than any other student demographic.”

TCU has a history of silence and of silencing the LGBTQ community. In 2009, the school canceled the launch of Living Learning Communities to prevent a queer-affirming group from forming.

In 2014, Women’s Studies faculty voted to approve a name change to Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies. The administration refused to approve the change.

Then in 2018, a committee to develop a resource office for LGBTQ students formed. The group wanted the office to use the words gender and sexuality in its name. The administration agreed only to Gender Resource Office, which continues to confuse students who don’t realize the office serves LGBTQ students.

And in 2019, TCU canceled a Drag Queen Story Hour.

Then in 2020, student activists demanded an LGBTQ Support Task Force be created in Student Affairs. To date, no plan of action has been developed by the task force.

TCU alum Morris Kight staged the first Pride parade ever held anywhere in 1970. He later organized a national boycott of Coors due to the company’s connections with and donations to anti-LGBTQ politicians.

In 2021, a faculty and a staff member co-authored a profile of Kight, one of the school’s most famous graduates. The profile was set to be featured on the TCU website in June of that year for Pride Month, but the “story was pulled over concerns about potential complaints from parents, community members, and donors,” according to the letter signed by faculty members.
Kight has never been honored by his alma mater.

Signers of the current letter circulating are asking the school to make two statements of support. First, they want a statement declaring that TCU “unequivocally supports and celebrates the LGBTQ students, staff and faculty whose presence here enriches the campus,” and that “Identity-based attacks on the community are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

Second, faculty want a statement declaring that TCU unequivocally supports the study of LGBTQ people, culture, politics, history, arts and theory as a vital component of the school’s academic mission and of a liberal arts education.

“We are hopeful that the university will listen to the community,” said Associate Professor Nino Testa, one of the authors of the letter. “The lack of inclusion is pervasive.”

Testa said he’s heard students, staff, parents and alumni are each planning to share their own perspectives and needs on the issue.

The letter concludes with a call for the office of the president and the office of the provost to consult with the LGBTQ community on campus to develop a plan for LGBTQ inclusion at TCU by the end of the academic year. During a time of political intimidation targeting the LGBTQ community, “the university must make clear its values and commitments without hesitation, shame or fear,” the letter concludes.

Dallas Voice contacted the TCU Office of Communications and, right at deadline, received this response, attributed to a TCU spokesperson: “The university has and continues to build an inclusive community where all are welcomed and supported. Inclusion is a hallmark of our culture.”